Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Lad's Choices

As mentioned in a previous post, I took a trip (under advisement) to Keezer's in Central Sq. to buy a new black satin cummerbund. Mentioning the sub-$20 price tag sparked several emails requesting that I pick up a few more when next I went. Thankfully, I had some free time and took the subway back across the river (all of 2 stops) for a second visit. My young lad accompanied me because he likes "choosing ties" and also likes the spicy dosa lunches at Dosa Factory.

Inside Keezer's, he asked if he could choose a few ties for me. The catch: by himself.

"Fine with me."

"I want to choose some beautiful ones for you" he continued.

"Go ahead. I'll wait here."

At $5-15, they wouldn't break the bank, so I stood with the cummerbunds by the register and waited for him.

"Here's the first one!" he said, and then sprinted back into the store's wilderness.

Not bad. It will be a great summer tie with a white shirt and a blue blazer. I liked it.

[sound of rummaging]

[sound of rummaging]

[sound of rummaging]

"Here's an argyle one!" he said, running up to me.

Oh, Dear God.

"It's ... wonderful" I said as convincingly as possible. "Yes, it does look like argyle. A little."

"Do you like it?" he said adorably with genuine pride and excitement for his find.

"Of course, son... I love it. Thank you."

Off he ran again.

The thing is massive and unwearable. For scale, I compared it to a tie of sensible proportions from my closet (below), and the new one is certainly within costume range:

My red tie looked like a sprout compared to the ugly "Argyle" monster.

---

"One more?" he asked.

"One more" I said, and he ran back through the crowded racks of clothes.

[sound of rummaging]

[sound of rummaging]

[sound of rummaging]

"This one is a handsome green!" he said, returning with a skip in his step.

Also not bad. I like knit ties in moderation, and this Lilly Pulitzer number will go into the rotation with the other. Two out of three. At least he has an eye for it and the prices were so cheap (under $20 for all three) that I could indulge him in something that clearly made him happy.

13 comments:

That first bow tie is great and the Lilly Pulitzer (silk?) knit tie is awesome as well. I've been looking for a few more silk knits and that sounds like the kind of shop a person could definitely get lost in.

You should have at least taken a look at the suit he found. It could have been a three-piece bleeding patch madras get-up or something. :)

Some of my favorite memories are going clothes shopping with my dad when I was a kid. His standard response when I suggested a necktie that veered toward the wild side was "I think that's a bit 'young' for me."

My old man found a wool topcoat (Louis) for about 40 bucks at Keezer's, took it to the front and pointed out that they'd need to fix the liner which was in shreds. The man took it pleasantly, smiled, said "no problem!", then looked at the price and threw it back at him (literally) with anger, telling him to "go to Louis if you want that kind of service!" Pure comedy.

I bought a tuxedo there many years ago that was a wreck (plastic wasteline adjuster, the whole lot), but it did the job for a while. Years after it was retired a bigger, better-looking house guest casually borrowed it out of the back of my closet (he showed up to a black-tie wedding weekend in jeans), pulled off a hipster-esque tight-waisted, open collar, high-water pants look that women swooned over. Keezer's wins again -- dammit! - JP